Chapter 10: Answer enough

At exactly two minutes before two in the afternoon on Saturday, the doorbell rang.

Yona, having spent the time waiting in her room, shot towards the door to use the opener and call Daichi up, but she was too late. Her brother was already at the door and – with a slightly mean grin towards her – pushed the button of the door opener at this very second. Yona passed her older brother an evil eye and said: "Please… behave, big brother!"

Tomoya's grin deepened when he answered: "Of course, sweet sister. I'll be on my best behaviour, of course."

Watching him open the door, Yona thought: "And that's exactly what I fear…", but she didn't answer loudly, because she could her Daichi's steps on the stairs and knew that her voice would be carried down the staircase. Instead, she went to the door herself, pushed past Tomoya and went out on the stairwell.

When Daichi rounded the corner to the last 10 steps up to their flat, he looked up and saw her. He greeted her with a shy grin, which she reciprocated.

"Hi.", he said. He was wearing simple white shirt and dark blue trousers; his jacket was also dark blue. He carried a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"Hello.", she answered.

When he reached the end of the steps – they lived on the top floor of the building – he presented her with the flowers. "I brought those as a present for you.", he said.

Blushing, she accepted the flowers. It was a nice small bouquet made of red tulips. With a smile, she sniffed a flower. "Thank you. They're beautiful."

The clearing of a throat behind her brought an end to her blushes. With a sigh, she turned slightly. Her brother stood in the hallway; his mean grin had made room for a different one. He looked… kind of amused? Turning back towards her guest, she asked him inside. "Come on in, Daichi…"

When she closed the door behind him and he finished taking his shoes off, she made introductions. "Daichi, this is my older brother Tomoya. Big Brother, this is Sawamura Daichi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sadai-San!"

Both men bowed, then Tomoya gestured for the living room. "It's nice to finally meet you. Come inside the living room for a few minutes before you go. I want to get to know you better, before I send you off with my baby sister."

Baby sister? Yona's gaze darkened slightly. How dare he… Ten years were not that much time…!

Daichi had already followed the man inside, so Yona hurried to put the flowers into a vase and follow them. Soon, they were seated around the table – Tomoya had chosen a position directly face-to-face to their guest.

The first few seconds were tense- and felt like hours for Yona. Tomoya watched the boy– almost man! – in front of him closely. Daichi felt a bit uncomfortable, but he withstood the gaze. He even watched the person opposite himself as well. The man looked nothing like his sister. They shared the same hair colour, but that was all. Not that Yona was small or little, she was tall for a girl, especially for a girl her age, but… Yona's brother was huge. He was tall, had broad shoulders and long legs – if Daichi were to imagine Ushijima in about 10 years, he would imagine his body similar to the one opposite. But the older brother of his female friend wasn't as trained as the player who he had used as comparison. You could see it in his walk and body tone. Sadai Tomoya was surely not untrained, but his body lacked the control which athletes showed.

"So…", the man started to talk. Yona sat up straight and pricked her ears. She couldn't read the facial expression of her brother; he wore a vacant expression. "You play volleyball at Karasuno? Which grade are you in?"

Daichi nodded, wearing a neutral facial expression as well. "I'm in third grade. And team captain."

Tomoya raised an eyebrow at his sister. The team captain? Well, well…

Looking back towards her friend, he asked his next question. "As a third year… You already know what you're gonna do after school?"

"I'm still considering my options. Right now I'm torn between attending university and police school."

Yona watched him, surprised. A policeman? Yeah… that fit him perfectly. Giving a small smile, she turned back towards her brother. Those plans should have made an impact on academic-driven Tomoya, right?

But she was disappointed because her brother was still wearing his poker face. "What do your parents do for a living? And what do they think of your plans?"

Yona send her brother a grimace and hoped that first, Daichi couldn't see it and second, that he'd get the idea to just… shut up. Asking all those questions about stuff that was none of his beeswax!

But while Yona went stir-crazy about the cross-examination, Daichi stayed relaxed – at least on the outside. He answered the questions without hesitation.

Finally, Tomoya got to the point. "What have you planned for today?"

"There is a street fair in the city. I thought we could visit the fair and grab something to eat later. If you'd like that, that is…" He turned his gaze on her with an insecure smile. She nodded. A Japanese street fair sounded nice. She'd never been to one …

"I want her back at 8 in the evening. No alcohol. No detours to other cities.", Tomoya interrupted her thoughts.

"Tomoya!"; she cried out appalled. "I'm not five years old anym…" She wanted to add, but it was Daichi who interrupted her this time. Raising his right hand towards her, he answered her brother with a straight gaze directly into his eyes.

"Understood. We'll be back before that. I promise that no harm will come to her."

With a grin, her older brother nodded. "Then I'll give you until nine. It's a Saturday, after all, and you'll need to take the train to the city enter… Nine pm, no minute after that."

"Yes.", Daichi answered. "Thank you for trusting me." He bowed.

Yona shook her head and stood. "Come on, Daichi. We're leaving…" Giving her brother another stink eye, she waited for her friend to raise as well, then she ushered him out of the room towards the door. "See you this evening, brother." She spat.

Tomoya, still watching her coolly, replied in an amused tone of voice: "See ya then, little sister. You've got your phone with you? Yes? All right. Have fun you two!"

He stayed in his sitting position in the living room and waited until the door snapped shut. Judging from the noise, she had let the door shut with more strength than required. Laughing, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled a number. The ringing tone only sounded two times, then he could hear a familiar voice.

"Tomoya?"

"Grandpa, I just send them off. Seems like our little one is spreading her wings… with a team captain!" Leaning back and grinning, the young man started to report the happenings of the afternoon back to his grandfather.


Yona huffed when they left the building. She was angry. Angry with the oaf of a brother who thought he could set fantasy-boundaries for her- and she was almost seventeen years old…!

Miffed, she turned towards the next station for the tram.

"Hey, Yona?", Daichi addressed her. "What's going on?"

She turned her head and said: "My brother is going on. I hate it when he treats me like… like…"

Daichi smiled gently. "Like a younger sibling whose parents aren't near?"

His smile kind of stole her thunder, so she had no retort. Instead, she stopped and looked up at him – he had stopped as well and was standing next to her. "… I'm sorry."

Daichi watched her. "What for?"

"For my brother. Was it awful? I told him to take it easy, but apparently…"

"It was okay. No pleasure, and I'd lie when I'd say I wasn't nervous sitting in front of him, but to be honest, I think I would have done the same if I were him."

Bewildered, she stared at him. "Why in heaven's name?!"

Daichi laughed a bit and explained with a gentle voice: "Because he doesn't know me and we are going out together? I think I would want to know as much as possible about the one that invites my younger sister – and he is quite a bit older than you, right? Otherwise I'd be concerned during the whole day. You know me, you know people that know me, teachers, friends, our coach… But he does not. And he's not only sending you of with an unknown boy, he's sending you of in an unknown -at least to you- country. So it's only normal for him to behave like that."

She thought about his words for a short while, then she nodded reluctantly. "I guess you're right. Nevertheless, he could have been friendlier. And an 8 pm curfew? How old does he think I am?" She was still miffed.

"It's okay", he told her. "I think it will be cold anyway this evening, so we probably don't want to stay out that late. But I haven't told you… You look beautiful today."

With this change of topic, he made her blush again. Under her coat, she wore a dark red dress which ended shortly above her knees and dark tights and dark blue shoes with a slight heel. Her hair fell down her back and had slight curls in it. Also, she had used a bit of make up on her eyes and cheek – but with her constant blushing, she could have skimped on that.

"Th...thank you.", she stammered.

"Now, let's go. The next train should arrive shortly. The earlier we're at the fair, the more time we can spend there." With that, he went over to her left side and guided their way to the station.


Yona felt like Daichi had thrown her right into wonderland, and all Daichi could do was watch and follow her with a smile, while she flittered from booth to booth. He was glad that he had chosen the fair for their first date, even though they hadn't had a typical couple-time so far. But he enjoyed her happy behaviour. He had come to know a thoughtful girl during schooltime, a sports-nerd during training and now, it seemed, he would get to know another Yona.

When she realized that he only followed way behind her, she came back to his side and took his right hand into her left. Then he had no choice but to follow her every step and marvel at the fascinated voices and questions she asked. Sometimes, she changed her language into English, because she was that excited. Codeswitching – they had talked about that during literature lessons. But apparently, she didn't mean to switch languages, because it took her by surprise when he had to ask her about an unknown English vocabulary she had used. Blushing again, she apologized, but he told her not to be sorry. He would switch languages gladly to help her get to know her Japanese roots better.

They spent hours at the fair. Sometimes, they would stop for a while somewhere and talk, sometimes they passed several booths quickly. Finally, she stopped at an ice cream booth.

"You want some?", he asked, but she shook her head no and squeezed his hand slightly.

"You told my brother that we could get something to eat, so I'd go for a decent meal first, but ice cream for dessert? Would that be okay?"

He nodded yes. "Of course. Whatever you want today, it's my treat! Any wishes regarding food? We can look for a restaurant right away." She wanted to respond to that question when a child's voice could be heard behind them.

"Can I have some strawberry ice cream? Please, uncle, pleeeeease!"

"Takeru, I've already told you: No more sweets today!" Hearing the voice, Daichi wheeled around.

"Uh!", was all he managed to say. Yona watched him closely, before she let her gaze glide over to the kid and the young man who were walking towards the ice cream booth. Daichi pulled his shoulders back a bit and stood taller. He was now more tense than a few moments ago, but his demeanour wasn't as stiff as when they had run into Shiratorizawa's captain. Yona squeezed his hand gently.

The young man walking towards them with a little boy at his side was quite tall as well, his slightly unruly hair was greyish-brown, and he wore a dark blue coat and glasses. When he looked up and saw Daichi, he stopped.

"Oi, fancy meeting you here, Karasuno-captain!" Grinning, he bopped his head. Daichi followed swiftly.

"Oikawa.", he greeted.

Then the gaze of the young man – of Oikawa, Yona corrected herself – followed Daichi's right arm down to his hand that still held Yona's, and then her left arm up to her face. His eyes widened slightly, as did his smile. Suddenly, he looked kind of cheeky and smirked.

"Taking your girl out, huh? See, Takeru, that's how you get to a girl's heart: With ice cream.", he said to his nephew. Then he turned towards the couple again. "Oikawa Tooru, nice to meet you!"

That's when it hit her. "Ah! You're Tobio's mentor! I've watched some of your games!"

"Little Tobio was never my pupil, but nice to know that I'm famous! Whenever you need a break of your crow, Tobio's got my number."

That was Daichi's clue. "And I've got it as well, remember?" He fastened a dark gaze on Oikawa, but slight pressure from Yona's hand made him look at her. She shook her head and took a step towards Seijoh's captain. When some hair fell into her face, she brushed it back with her free right hand, giving him the opportunity to see her cast.

"Listen, Oikawa-san. I'm sure you have something to do right now" – she looked pointedly to the little boy at his side – "and it surely isn't proper behaviour to flirt with someone's girl when your nephew is around – for whom you should be a role model, not an idiot model. So, we're wishing you two a nice day – and we'll leave. Goodbye."

With that, she started to walk towards and past Oikawa, who watched her speechlessly. Daichi followed with a shrug and a smile. "You heard her, sorry. See you next time!"

Yona and Daichi walked towards the next street corner, then they rounded it, and when they were out of sight, she doubled over. "Have you seen his face?"; she giggled.

He laughed as well. "I think he never got the brush-off like that!"

When they stopped laughing, he pulled her closer to him. "Yona… You just said something. Do you… Did you… Were you serious?"

She cocked her head. Overthinking her choice of words, she realized which passage of her little speech he meant. "You're thinking of the part with 'someone's girl'?"

He nodded and she blushed – again.

"Well… I didn't know how to put it in words. And it was Oikawa who named me "your girl" first. It's… it's like it is right now, right? I'm kind of… your girl?"

A shy but really happy grin started to form in his face. "If that is how you feel…? I'd be happy to be your boy. Yona, I think… no, I'm sure, I fell in love with you."

Instead of answering, she took a step closer to him. Now she was directly in front of him. Building up all her courage, she raised herself on tiptoes and pressed her lips onto his.

She closed her eyes and thought: "This is surely answer enough."


Fi -na - lly!

I'm sure that Yona's answer was enough for him, don't you think, too?

This isn't the end of their date, next chapter, you'll get to know more of her story - and his reactions. This slow-burn story is getting serious...

Again, thank you for reading, for your favs and that you're still following this story.
See you next chapter!

Katily